Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

January 21, 2008 By Fausta

The MLK Day edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Martin Luther King Day edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Today’s top story is that Brazil’s president Lula visited Cuba last week and said that Castro is ‘ready to return’ while at the same time Castro Says He’s Too Unhealthy to Speak. And then some wonder why there’s incredulity in this world.

Don’t miss also the video of Chavez saying he chews coca every day.

If you would like your links on Latin America to be included in the Monday carnivals, please email me by Sunday evening: faustaw “at” yahoo “dot” com.

SPANISH-LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Un millon de voces contra el FARC

LATIN AMERICA
Translating Obama

France has nuclear energy deals in the works with Argentina and Chile.

IMMIGRATION
Symposium: The Immigration Solution

HACER is hosting the international conference US-Mexico Labor Market Dilemma: Overcoming the bi-national political circus in Mexico City on January 24, 2008 – 11:30 AM.

VIDEOS
Chavez Announces: I Chew Coca Every Day
Chávez says he chews coca daily
Analysts said Chávez’s comments before National Assembly amounted to a dangerous endorsement and might be an admission of an illegal act.

Two videos in Spanish:
From El Cato, on economic freedom and democracy:

FARC TERRORISTAS ASESINOS

BARBADOS
Thompson: ‘much at stake for Barbados’

Sweet Success: A change of power in one of the Caribbean’s best-run and most stable democracies

Barbados’ time for change

BOLIVIA
Enshrining Mob Rule in Bolivia: Communal Justice and the New Constitution

BRAZIL
This time it will all be different Why Brazil is better placed than it used to be to cope with a world slowdown

CHILE
Chile-Peru spat over sea border

COLOMBIA
Story of Colombian boy hostage emerges

557 Reasong why the FARC is on the international lists of terrorist groups

From the official Colombian government website, a press release on Uribe’s trip to the EU: Presidente Uribe viaja a Europa para explicar logros en Seguridad Democrática y avanzar en Acuerdo de Asociacion

Galeras Volcano erupts in Colombia

FARC’s ‘Gift’ To Hugo Chavez

CUBA
Plantados hasta la Libertad y Democracia en Cuba

Demand Medical Attention for Critically Ill Cuban Prisoners

Reality is nothing, perception is everything

Detenido de forma agresiva y abusiva el ex preso político y opositor Raúl Federico Caballero Rodríguez representante de Plantados en la provincia de Camagüey.

Reperecusión en Prensa, Oswaldo Payá-Elecciones Cuba

Will the real Che Guevara please stand up?

Why tourism is no longer promoted

“Simply Freedom”

ECUADOR
Ecuador: La escasez y el Socialismo del Siglo XXI

U.S. SouthCom Pimps for Soros’s US AID

MEXICO
Mexico’s Cartel War: Calderon in the Cauldron

Is this the next president of Mexico?

NICARAGUA
Chavez in Nicaragua; Absurdity ensues

PANAMA
U.S. Navy Official Exaggerated Terrorist Threat to Arctic & Panama Canal Shipping

Party time: President Torrijos’s grip is beginning to falter

PERU
Peru GDP Expanded 8.1% in November From Year Ago

PUERTO RICO
Timothy Olyphant Heads Off on ‘A Perfect Getaway’

From a UFO site blog: SETI: ” . . . Mystery Signal Has Been Picked Up By a Giant Radio-Telescope in Puerto Rico”

Ricky Martin at Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian, and the plena video I linked to on Saturday,

TRINIDAD TOBAGO
30 Murders in 18 Days!

VENEZUELA
The Dangerously High Price of Crossing Hugo Chavez

Judge Monica Fernandez, a Venezuelan human rights advocate, was shot on January 4 in what police ruled a botched car robbery. The night before the attack, she was branded an enemy of the state, a coup-plotter, and a fascist on a state television show which condemns those who dare to oppose the government’s actions. Coincidence? Thor Halvorssen doesn’t think so.

Via Siggy,
Venezuela’s Jews Find Their Voice as Chavez Ramps Up Harassment

Chavez to farmers: Sell within Venezuela or it’s ‘treason’; Chavez threatens to send in the army to seize farms at gunpoint unless farmers sell all their milk to the government. Udder stupidity. As Ed says,

Chavez has chosen the Mugabe way of state confiscation of farms, and will eventually get the Mugabe result — taking his nation into poverty and starvation on land that should produce enough for export.

Via Irish Spy
Exit Venezuela?

Chavez and the FARC-The Unveiling

Is Chavez seeking war with Colombia?

U.S. media treats Chavez better than he accords his opponents and Lucianne discussion thread

Chavez and the FARC

A Hollywood Yarn Unravels

Venezuelan government continues attack on independent media; Alberto Federico Ravell is “Caracas Nine” dissident #3

An article from last month I didn’t link to Election deception

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For more carnival fun, visit SheBlogs Carnival #13, hosted by Sex and the South.

Blogging about the Carnival
A colombo-americana’s perspective.
Obi’s Sister

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Filed Under: Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad Tobago, Venezuela

January 16, 2008 By Fausta

McCain defends his record, Russert’s inanity, and this morning’s roundup

McCain angrily responds to flier about his war record. Sen. McCain has every reason to be angry; he defended our country at great sacrifice to himself and shouldn’t have to put up with this garbage.

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The Unbearable Inanity of Tim Russert

Actually, the balls Russert favors may be hard, but the pitches he throws aren’t curveballs, which go someplace useful. They’re sillyballs, which go somewhere pointless.

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Mexico’s Cartel War: Calderon in the Cauldron
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Two videos from Siggy:
Defending Racism And Genocide: Just Another Day At The UN

and
“Take That, Obama Girl!”

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Live from Vegas, it’s Democracy Tonight!
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Via Larwyn, Barak Obama and Israel
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Ain’t capitalism grand?
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ACLU Defends Sex In A Public Restroom
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Filed Under: ACLU, Barak Obama, Democrats, John McCain, Mexico, politics, Republicans, Sigmund Carl and Alfred, UN

January 14, 2008 By Fausta

The second-Monday-in-January edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. This week’s top stories are the two released FARC hostages, and the increasing anti-Semitism in Venezuela, but don’t miss the Strategy Page article on submarines and the drug trade in Colombia.

If you would like your post(s) to be included in the Monday Carnivals, please email me by Sunday morning at faustaw “at” yahoo “dot” com. As you can see, I don’t have a limit on the number of countries or the subject of the posts, as long as the posts are informative and well written on the subject of Latin America.

SPANISH-LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Martha Beatriz Roque Info

PODCAST
Val Prieto, Siggy and I had the pleasure of talking with Carlos Eire last Wednesday night.

LATIN AMERICA
The LatinAmericanist has an excellent daily roundup of headlines from Latin American countries.

ARGENTINA/VENEZUELA
Suitcase of Cash Tangles U.S. and 2 Latin Nations in Intrigue

The Venezuela business model

ARUBA
Natalee Holloway: Mother of Former Suspect, Joran van der Sloot, Wants Investigation of Investigation

ARGENTINA
Italian Immigration to Argentina

Penguins and many other birds spill survive oil spill

BARBADOS
“Authentic”? Yes

Election fever peaks in Barbados

BOLIVIA
Bolivia: Energy profile

BRAZIL
Underwater oil discovery to transform Brazil into a major exporter

The granny from Ipanema So many more women on the beach than men

CHILE
The centre cannot hold Bachelet picks a new strongman

CUBA
AP Obit Paints Traitorous Ex-CIA Agent, Castro Apologist As Travel Agent

A traitor’s death

Death of a Traitor

Traitor dies, victim of Cuban healthcare system

Codepink’s “big” protest

Cuba’s Transition Begins

COLOMBIA
Drug Sub War Intensifies

The subs, made of fiberglass, are constructed by the drug gangs, using technicians and materials brought in for the purpose. This costs several hundred thousand dollars per boat. Which is not so bad when you consider that each voyage moves a cargo worth $100 million or more. The craft are from 50-80 feet in length, have a crew of three or four, and carry 3-10 tons of cocaine up the coast to Central America, or farther north.

These are not submarines in the true sense of the word, but “semi-submersibles”. The fiberglass boats, powered by a diesel engine, have a small “conning tower” above the water, providing the crew, and engine, with fresh air, and permitting the crew to navigate the boat. A boat of this type is the only practical kind of “submarine” for drug smuggling. A real submarine would be much more difficult to build, although you can buy commercial subs for a million dollars or so. These, however, can carry only a few hundred pounds of cargo, and not for long distances.

The main problem with real subs is that they are not much more effective than the “semi-submersibles” that are coming out of Colombia (and even Europe). Submarines can only travel underwater, on battery power, for a short time. Otherwise, they are on the surface, or in a “semi-submersible” state, running on diesel power.

So the drug gangs had the right idea, but their “sub” was not stealthy enough to avoid detection all the time. However, it appears that these “semi-submersibles” do work, because the drug gangs keep using them. Most of them are apparently getting through. Delivery by sea is now the favored method for cocaine smugglers, because the United States has deployed military grade aircraft detection systems, and caught too many of the airborne drug shipments. The smugglers did their math, and realized that improvised “submarines” were a more cost-effective way to go.

Colombia’s Uribe unmasks the FARC

Le “geste” des FARC confirme les relations étroites entre Hugo Chavez et les rebelles, qui disposent de centaines de camps de repli au Venezuela

L’ancien FARC déteste qu’on le mette dans le même sac que les “paramilitaires démobilisés”

Gloria Inmarcesible?
Bungle in the Jungle
FARC’s ‘Gift’ To Hugo Chavez
Hugo and the FARC kiss and make up; Hugo sends helicopters
Freed Colombian hostage reveals ordeal

COSTA RICA
The Iguana Tease

CUBA
AP Obit Paints Traitorous Ex-CIA Agent, Castro Apologist As Travel Agent

A traitor’s death

Traitor dies, victim of Cuban healthcare system

En Cuba no hay judios, pero hay homosexuales

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
purification installation at Cure Hospital in Santo Domingo

ECUADOR
Headlines: “IT’S THE LIES & FAKERY, STUPID”

Evidence of Correa’s corruption

MEXICO
Mexico’s Drug Related Abductions Now Showing Up In Phoenix Area

From last month: 12-6-7
Merida Initiative NOT Plan Mexico

Of Mayas and Markets

NICARAGUA
The Heritage Foundation, on Daniel Ortega

Nicaragua’s President Ortega: The Balancing Act After One Year

PANAMA
John McCain: Natural Born Citizen?

PARAGUAY
Rare birds at San Rafael National Park in Paraguay

PERU
Suffer the children Malnutrition amid growing plenty

PUERTO RICO
SCOTUS BLOG Analysis: Police, state sovereignty and the Constitution

Travel 2008: 33 hours from San Juan to Chicago

TRINIDAD TOBAGO
Trinidad’s music pirates of the Caribbean

VENEZUELA
Hugo Chavez Knows Nothing About Economics, Part 2,843,971

A cynical Hugo Chavez tries to defend the undefendible
Chavez: the Colombian FARC is not a terrorist group
Better Yet, Call Them Activists

The “Hero”

Anti-Semitism in Venezuela

“Government Sponsored” Antisemitism Grows Under Chavez
VENEZUELA: JEW HATRED CHAVEZ STYLE

Venezuelan Jews Fear Growing Government Sponsored Anti-Semitism

VENEZUELA: US Neo-Cons Accuse Chavez of Anti-Semitism

Venezuela Is Facing A Mountain Of Problems And Crises . . .

A Chavez, Joe Kennedy and Oil Math

Why did Venezuela surrender to Chavez?

VIDEO
Whale watching in Los Cabos, Mexico

HUMOR
Not related to Latin America, but sent in for the Carnival Hillary Clinton denies steroid use. Please note that from now on I’ll only post Latin America-related posts in the Carnival.

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For more Carnival fun, visit SheBlogs Carnival hosted by Sex and the South.

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Filed Under: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

January 7, 2008 By Fausta

This week’s Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This week’s big stories: the governor of Puerto Rico claims that the massive Federal investigation on his wrongdoings is politically motivated, and Hugo gets farked by the FARC.

If you would like to have your posts included in the Carnival, please email me the link(s): faustaw “at” yahoo “dot” com.

New WEBSITE, and new FEATURE
Website: Net for Cuba International

Feature: The Cubanology Biweekly Report

ARGENTINA, VENEZUELA AND AMERICA
Slush and garbage
The imbroglio over a cash-stuffed suitcase

The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo join the circus

CARIBBEAN
Audio: BBC Radio’s Caribbean Report

LATIN AMERICA
Pace of investment disappoints Latin America

HACER‘s weekly roundup.

BELIZE
Every time…

BOLIVIA
Bolivia’s Dilemma: Democracy v. Authoritarianism

Bolivia looking for heavy investment from oil firms

Second Venezuelan found with suspicious cash

BRAZIL
If redemption fails, you can still use the free bathroom
Edir Macedo and his Universal Church have prospered by offering a religion “of results” to the upwardly mobile

CHILE
Llaima volcano erupts in Chile

COLOMBIA
Colombia Says DNA Links Boy To Woman Held by Rebel Group

Camera, no action

Colombians getting it done

Bogota opens ‘museum of laziness’

A museum dedicated to laziness has opened in Colombia’s capital, Bogota.
The event features sofas placed in front of televisions, hammocks and beds – anything associated with the avoidance of work.

Sounds a lot like the Princeton Public Library, if you ask me…

COSTA RICA
Scientists discover three new species of salamanders in Costa Rica

CUBA
Cuban divorce is easy, housing is harder

Church and Stare: Cuban Style

El 8 a las 8

Don’t forget the axis of evil

ECUADOR
Failed and Incompetent Economist Correa Locks in Cuban Economic Model in Ecuador

A Tale of Two Cities: Ecuadorean Falls 47 Stories off Skyscraper and Lives; Alvaro Noboa Stumbles and is Abandoned

GUATEMALA
I Hate Monkeys And They Hate Me

MEXICO
Border stories

Via Maria, Tourists Shun Crime-Hit Mexico Beaches

NICARAGUA
Gearing up for the electoral season: Nica News for Jan 2

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Leader: FBI Probe Political
in Puerto Rico, the looming threat of an indictment may just help Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila hold onto power

Puerto Rico, Baby

Cockfights canceled due to import ban

Celebrate Three Kings’ Day

TRINIDAD and TOBAGO
Trinidad and Tobago says no to PetroCaribe deal

VENEZUELA
Chavez: Calmer, or just more Convincing?

Chavez “Forced To Reduce Speed Of March”

A new, refurbished, gentler Chavez. A new, reshuffled, more radical Cabinet

The Mighty And Their (Temporary) Fall

Behind Chávez Cabinet Shuffle

Joe Kennedy, Hugo Chavez and That Free Heating Oil

US Democrats Pay Tribute To FARC Terrorists

Chavez punk’d by the FARC: Clara Roja’s son was in Colombia all along
Chavez gest farked by the FARC once agan

A FARC’ing Shame… Hugo Chavez Gets Punked

No Honor Among Thieves

The Students of Venezuela, Roaring Like Lions

The first casualty of tyranny is intelligence

Francisco Uson is Free; HRF’s First Prisoner of Conscience Conditionally Released

INFLATION CLOSES AT 22.5 PERCENT IN 2007, via Announcement: inflation, crime and a second break

Venezuela cuts three zeros off bolivar currency while I watched The Sopranos

Venezuela’s Chavez cools rhetoric after vote loss

A revolution? Awaiting Chavez’ changes

Holy Chavistas! Venezuela Violent Deaths Double Iraq’s Numbers

Is it safer to walk around in Baghdad than it is in Caracas? Hugo Chávez’s socialist “sea of happiness” resembles a war zone.
Where War Deaths Are Worst

The curse of the Pharaoh

Chavez’s Baby Rescue Operation is Stillborn

HUMOR
Hugo Chavez to Outlaw Capitalism In Venezuela

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For more Carnival fun, don’t miss Haveil Havalim 149: The Impediment to Peace Edition, and SheBlogs Carnival #11

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Filed Under: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Trinidad Tobago, Venezuela

December 24, 2007 By Fausta

The Christmas Eve edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to thie Christmas Eve edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. I wish all of you a very happy Christmas.

If you have a post or a news item you would like to contribute, please email me: faustaw -at- yahoo -dot- com.

The big story of the week: The bombing of the Argentine Jewish community center in 1994 and Iran, the NIE, and Rafsanjani.

SPANISH LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF THE WEEK:
El Cato

LATIN AMERICA
The Carnivorous and Vegetarian Lefts, by Carlos Alberto Montaner. This was his speech at the Opening Plenary Session, The Whitherspoon Institute, Princeton University, Dec. 6, 2007.
UPDATE: Speaking of vegetarian lefties, Chavez Faces Challenge From Former Comrade: Venezuela’s New Hero Has Respect in Army; a Vegetarian Mystic

A South American arms race?

Latino-Islamic Terror: Hezbollah Shows Off Their Latin Bombers

De-Fence, De-Fence

Via Babalu, Chavez offers oil for bananas deal

The Changing Dynamic in Latin America

ARGENTINA
Iran’s Nuclear Terror. More at Patterico’s Argentina, Iran and nuclear weapons.

AMIA and the NIE

AMIA, the communal offices of the Argentine Jewish community, was struck by a massive suicide truck bomb on July 18, 1994 – 85 were killed and over 200 injured. Iran and Hezbollah were suspected from the beginning. The Argentine investigation has had several false starts and has been mired in corruption, but in recent years has gotten on track. Last month Interpol voted overwhelmingly to issue a red letter calling for the arrest of five Iranians (along with Hezbollah’s external operations chief Imad Mughniyah) on the basis of the Argentine investigation. The publicly available report on the AMIA bombing offers tremendous insight into the Iranian regime’s modus operandi and worldview.

Full Prosecutor: Argentina bombings ordered by Iran
The NIE & Rafsanjani
Cog in the Regime
ABOUT IRAN’S BUENOS AIRES BOMBINGS
The NIE’s Iran finding was based on…an old laptop and the word of Rafsanjani?

Troubles for Argentina’s New Evita

The suitcase full of Chavista money is also in the news:
Stung in Miami

Ballet star Bocca bows out in Buenos Aires

ARUBA
Natalee Holloway Case Officially Closed

BOLIVIA
Bolivia: $872,000 from Chavez with Love

A meltdown in Latin America

Bolivians fear political unrest as rivals face off

BRAZIL
Petrobras to Invest Up to $1 Billion With Bolivia State Company

Lula Says 2007 Was Exceptional, 2008 Will Be Better

COLOMBIA
FARC’s Real Aim: Ending Democracy

Colombia protests over Nicaragua’s FARC remarks

CUBA
Chavez deepens investment in Cuba

Via Gates of Vienna, Seven Questions: Castro’s Decline

Cuban Refinery Inaugurated, With Chávez in Spotlight

Venezuelan leader Chavez presides over oil summit in Cuba

Chavez dice desde Santiago que Venezuela y Cuba son una misma nacion

Omnibus Includes $33.6 Million for Democracy Promotion in Cuba (Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen)

On a Purely Personal Note

Blogging from Cuba: Generacion Y?

Fidel hints at retirement

ECUADOR
Santa Claus Lives

MEXICO
Intifada On The Mexican Border

Running just to stand still: How to reform the flawed behemoth that is the world’s sixth-biggest oil producer

NICARAGUA
Nicaraguan expats to join forces in opposition to Daniel Ortega

Iran making diplomatic inroads in Nicaragua

New friends in the neighborhood

Iran’s push into Central America

The Skunk Is Back In Nicaragua

PERU
Chavez: At it Again

PUERTO RICO
Puertorican politics remain the same as they were when I lived there: politicians continue to use the “status” as a smokescreen behind wich to hide the real underlying problems of the island:
Statehood topic tops all issues in Puerto Rico<: House panel energizes debate by calling for new referendum

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — The governor is under criminal investigation, crime and unemployment are soaring and the economy is faltering as foreign firms are shutting down factories.

But to hear the politicians on this gem of a Caribbean island tell it, the only real issue on the public agenda is whether Puerto Rico should become the 51st state, ending its decades-old status as a U.S. commonwealth.

A bill calling for a referendum on the issue recently won approval in a U.S. House committee, triggering a new round of intense debate on the island, despite the fact that final congressional approval and an actual vote are still iffy propositions at best.

Some tiring of debate
After decades of rowdy argument, though, some Puerto Ricans appear to be tiring of the seemingly eternal debate over what is known here as the “status” issue.

Don’t I know it.

VENEZUELA
Prodigality as state policy:
The case of Hugo Chavez

The Hallaca Effect: Chavez’s Undoing

The Nixon Moreno case: Political Persecution is alive and well in Chavez’ revolution

“Ironically, the United States is financing Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution”

Che shirt wearing Cuban idiots booed in Venezuela, also at Citizen Feathers

El movimiento estudiantil, antídoto contra Chávez

Chavismo without Chavez?

Venezuela, redux

Venezuela falls behind the times

More Venezuela price caps may go
About time
And speaking of Chavez…

The 2007 result: the surprising abstention

Analisis psiquiatrico de Hugo Chavez:
Entrevista al Dr. Franzel Delgado Senior

HUMOR
Hillary Hires King Juan Carlos to Manage Husband

Beam me up, Hillary!

La Isla Bonita

BLOGGING ABOUT THE CARNIVAL
A colombo-americana’s perspective

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For more Carnival fun, don’t miss the Carnival of Christmas, 2007 Edition

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Filed Under: Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Iran, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

December 17, 2007 By Fausta

The Bolivian secession edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

UPDATE
Not secession – federalism, instead.
See below (*)

The big news this week in Latin America: The four richest Bolivian regions declared autonomy from the Morales government, on the same day as Evo Morales formally received a new draft Constitution.

(*) Clarifying: It’s not secession; it’s federalism
I just received an email from Alek Boyd of VCrisis

First off governors of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija have been democratically elected, as Morales. Ergo that rules out accusations about lacking democratic credentials the official propaganda machine is leveling against them.

Second, they are not seeking independence. Contrary to what the MSM is publishing the autonomic statute in first article states:

“Santa Cruz se convierte en Departamento Autónomo, como expresión de la identidad histórica, la vocación democrática y autonómica del pueblo cruceño, y en ejercicio de su derecho a la autonomía departamental, reforzando la unidad de la República de Bolivia, y los lazos de hermandad entre todos los bolivianos”.

That is to say they are not proposing secession, what they are proposing is self rule in economic, education, tax and resource management issues.

Some of you may think that such a thing amounts to independence from Bolivia, however the prefectos have been very clear in that respect, their proposal is similar to the current system of autonomic regions in Spain.

Third, the issue of autonomic rule was presented to popular vote through referendum. In 4 out of the 9 departments (Santa cruz, Beni Pando and Tarija) the SI option, that is the one supporting autonomy, won. Ergo, said proposal is as democratic as Morales’-driven national constituent assembly from a strictly legal point of view, for if what Morales needed to rewrite the constitution was the approval of “the people” said approval was granted by “the people” to provincial statutes of self rule in those regions.

Fourth, Morales’ constituent proposal has violated procedures, the most striking evidence of it is a) the seat of constituent assembly discussions to get the new charter approved was moved from Sucre to Oruro, so that Morales supporters could get it passed by simple majority [2/3 of votes were never reached], and b) the text approved in Oruro contained originally 408 articles as opposed to the one presented to Morales last Saturday which contains 411 articles. A drafting committee in charge of modifications has introduced 3 new articles which have not been approved
by the constituent assembly, therefore illegal.

Related links in Spanish: Gobierno Departamental de Santa Cruz, and Con los estatutos, prefectos controlan tierras y tributos. From reading this information it’s clear that what the prefectos are after is a federal system like the USA’s.

Special thanks to Alek for clarifying this question. My apologies for my mistake.

Previous post:
Links listed from most recent to older:

Bolivia set on collision course over autonomy

All the legislation – as well as a separate and especially contentious constitutional provision limiting the size of landholdings – has to be submitted to referendums that are expected to take place early next year.

“I am convinced that we will not retreat a millimetre nor move one step to the side,” Ruben Costas, the governor of Santa Cruz, told tens of thousands of jubilant supporters waving the department’s green and white flags. Mr Costas warned the central government not to send in troops or police. “This is a warning. Do not dare to invade us or militarise us.”

Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando departments, which all announced autonomy on Saturday, form a half-moon shape around the solidly pro-government capital and heavily indigenous departments of La Paz, Potosi and Oruro. Two other departments – Cochabamba and Chuquisaca – are unhappy with the new constitution, railroaded through by an emergency session of a constituent assembly eight days ago by pro-government supporters. “The country has taken two different directions,” said an editorial in El Deber, a daily newspaper published in Santa Cruz.

The deputies at the Constituent Assembly approved one version but Evo received a different one; VCrisis has the captures. The first version states that the power comes from the people while the second version stresses the preselection of candidates. Gateway Pundit has more.

At play? Natural gas, which Gazprom is eyeing, along with Brazil and Chile.

Ed Morrissey correctly points out

If these districts can secure themselves against the central government, this could get very, very ugly. Natural gas is their chief export and their resource for hard currency. If the breakaway districts can keep it for themselves and safely export it (mainly to Brazil), they can build a significant war chest while leaving Morales to feed the rest of Bolivia’s poor in the west. That will prompt Morales to march on the east, perhaps assisted by Chavez in Venezuela, and a civil war will almost certainly erupt — and sooner rather than later.

Publius Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard are blogging on the story, while Marginal Revolution asks, What does Bolivia have to do to make the front page?

Bolivians Now Hear Ominous Tones in the Calls to Arms

Bolivia tense amid autonomy push

Cardinal Terrazas calls for peace in overcoming crisis in Bolivia

Bolivia Leader Is Mobilizing Armed Forces

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SPANISH-LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Two this week:
Penultimos dias, and Red Liberal Hispanoamerica

LATIN AMERICA and CARIBBEAN
The Bank of the South:
Bolivarian finance: The IMF can sleep easy

Caribbean nations, EU reach agreement on access to markets. The Caribbean countries are Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname.

Caribbean Net News is an excellent resource on the islands. Don’t miss also HACER‘s weekly roundup

ARGENTINA
Marital bliss: A different Kirchner is in charge, but many of the policies remain the same

Irish Tourist Ronan Lawlor Missing in Argentina or Chile

ARUBA
OpenSEA adds members, promises smooth saling for 802.1x NAC

BRAZIL
Is Brazil changing its focus from income redistribution to income creation?

Energy: Brazil’s not peaking

CAYMAN ISLANDS
Lesson 4: Not Every Disaster is a Disaster

CHILE
Insulza’s Divided Attention

COLOMBIA
Pouty Hugo: “I Will Not Speak to Uribe For As Long As I Live”

FARC FAILS to Kidnap President Uribe’s Two Sons

Uribe’s anticorruption chief resigns

CUBA
Cuban diplomat seeking asylum in Spain

A Cuban diplomat who allegedly aided a dissident doctor in Mozambique has skipped a flight out of Paris to seek political asylum in Spain, Spanish daily El Mundo reported Sunday.

Lorenzo Menendez said he faces prison for helping the dissident but believes socialist Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will bow to pressure from Havana to deport him.

Zapatero is a weak leader, indeed.

BEATDOWN IN HAVANA!!… Castro Thugs Bash Democracy Protesters

video: Now you see the light

Huckabee does a flip-flop on Cuba

Huckabee Unaware of Issues Between U.S. and Cuba

Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty continue their campaign.

DOMINICA
One laptop per child project initiated in Dominica

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Pirate Captain William Kidd’s Ship, the Quedah Merchant, Possibly Found in the Caribbean

ECUADOR
Correa celebrates the Chavez coronation in Argentina: A faustian pact called bolivarianism

GUATEMALA
A post on Guatemala’s new and more restrictive adoption law And Even More…

GUYANA
Relations between Venezuela and Guyana remain strained due to the continued incursions of Chavez’s military into the other country, the latest of which was

Last November 15, a contingent of 36 armed Venezuelan military personnel, led by a general, forced the crew off of Guyanese-owned dredges and bombed the pontoons.

That was followed by unauthorised overflights by Venezuelan helicopters in Guyana’s airspace.

Guyana-Venezuela joint group to be set-up to prevent incursions

MEXICO
The Fantastico Mr. Fox

Lessons for Mexico in Brazil’s Boom: In the energy sector, open markets work.

The Dark Side of Microlending

NICARAGUA
Iran making push into Nicaragua

Iran and Nicaragua: A new relationship?

Iran’s foothold in Monkey Point, Nicaragua

Danielito gone wild

PERU
Peru Is In, Now Where’s Colombia?

Peru: Barrick Gold Corp. Helicopter Crashes because of Engine Failure

Converted Buses to be Taken Off Peru’s Highways

PUERTO RICO
Rush’s Snakes & Arrows world tour to be extended

VENEZUELA
Venezuela, and Oil and podcast

Organized crime in Venezuela administration

Venezuelan Chavista agents arrested in the US for voting plot

Miami Maletagate indictments: Just the tip of the iceberg?

Chavez lives down to his reputation

LAC roundup

Patria, Vuitton o Muerte! Gastaremos!

Chavez vs. The Venezuelan Electorate

HUMOR
Funnimetric’s Post details: Fausta’s Carnival of Latin America

Chucha Libre (Spanish)

Mundial de patos (Spanish)

—————————————————-

BLOGGING ABOUT THE CARNIVAL:
A colombo-americana’s perspective
A Second Hand Conjecture
Babalu
Billy Jones
Sex and the South
Wizbang

====================================================

More Carnival fun at SheBlogs Carnival, brought to you by Sex and the South

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Filed Under: Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

December 12, 2007 By Fausta

Hugo’s crude politics, and the fantastico Mr. Fox

Hugo’s Crude Politics

Politics: Joe Kennedy’s back, playing Santa Chavez with a new sleigh full of Venezuelan heating oil for “the poor.” The tropical dictator’s politicized “gift,” however, comes with strings. We see Joe dancing on them.
…

What this is really about is advancing Chavez’s U.S. agenda, a big part of which is to blame U.S. oil companies for high oil prices.

High oil prices do squeeze the poor. But oil companies do not control them. Dictators such as Chavez do. Eighty percent of the world’s oil is held by inefficient state oil companies. Venezuela is one of the worst, producing its oil with scab labor since a 2003 strike, and it has also confiscated at least $1 billion in U.S. oil assets since then. Some industry analysts estimate that Chavez adds as much as a third of the cost to world oil prices. No wonder he wants someone else, like Big Oil, blamed.

Now he’s got a willing dupe. Besides browbeating oil companies, Kennedy also brought in politicians shilling for Chavez as well.

And bear in mind,

Oil companies, in fact, give far more to charity than Kennedy’s $25 million program. In 2006, Chevron gave $90.8 million. British Petroleum gave $106.7 million. Exxon Mobil gave $138.6 million.

I’m not a fan of Vicente Fox, but Alvaro Vargas Llosa writes, The Fantástico Mr. Fox: The strange fact that Vicente Fox is looking out for Latin America’s future. Fox is speaking out for the rule of law and the market economy.

Let’s hope he succeeds.
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Filed Under: Hugo Chavez, Mexico, Venezuela

December 5, 2007 By Fausta

More Congo, Kos quotes, murder on the border, speeding, and tonight’s podcast

My article on the latest in the Congo the Dog Saga is now up at The Star Ledger’s NJ Voices

—————————————————————

John Hawkins came up with The 2nd Annual Worst Quotes From The Daily Kos (2007 Edition). Number 10:

10) “I wrote a diary a short time ago about how the Bush administration helped ruin my marriage. It wasn’t because my husband was a Bush supporter or anything…it was because of all the stresses from job loses, living without health insurance and getting sick, to my husband being forced to take a job where he wasn’t home much that helped ruin my marriage.” — angrybird

Trust me, they go down from there.

—————————————————————

Like something out of a Robert Rodriguez movie:
Singer shot to death after surgery in Matamoros ER

Apart from the police and narco-gangsters, few groups of people have suffered more in Mexico’s brutal drug wars than the singers whose music often chronicles the carnage.

The latest casualty appears to be Zayda Peña, 28, a singer who was shot dead Saturday in a hospital emergency room in the city of Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville.

Prairie Pundit:

Whatever the reason, the persons responsible were determined to not let her survive her hospital visit caused by the first attempt.

—————————————————————

Gerard always has a great post. Take a look at Night Road to Mesa: 219 MPH in a Lamborghini. And Busted by the Web.
—————————————————————

More blogging later, but remember tonight’s podcast at 9PM Eastern. My guests will be Joyce Vennis, author of Postpartum Depression Demystified, and ShrinkWrapped, a psychoanalyst.

We will be discussing relationships. It’ll be a fun podcast, indeed. The call in number is (646) 652-2639, and there will also be live chat, too. Join us!
Listen to Fausta's blog on internet talk radio

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Filed Under: American Digest, Blog Talk Radio, blogs, Mexico, podcasts, Princeton

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